1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to lighting technology and in particular to an LED-based lighting system designed to maximize energy efficiency and optimize thermal diffusion.
2. Background of the Invention
In recent years light systems based on light-emitting diodes (LED), a semiconductor light source, have become popular and widespread. Since becoming a practical source of light in the 1960s, LED based lights have moved to the mainstream and are now used in a wide variety of applications, ranging from LED headlamps, to LED replacement light bulbs, to LED based flood and streetlights. The efficiency and light output of LEDs has risen exponentially and they are now commonly understood to be a satisfactory light source for many applications.
High-power LEDs may be driven at current from hundreds of mA to more than an ampere, and single LEDs can now emit over one thousand lumens. However, in such uses heat management becomes a very important issue, and heat buildup is one of the leading causes of early LED failure. The issue often leads to LED lighting solutions that appear underpowered and do not create enough usable ambient light. Current heat reduction systems are inadequate to dissipate proper amounts of the heat bi-product causing reduction of LED lifespan, premature failure, and loss of ambient light. The present application addresses these and other problems.
Another emerging downside is the fact that most LEDs are incompatible with dimmers. Much of the modern adoption of LEDs has been in systems wherein incandescent bulbs are replaced with LEDs. In many of these system dimmers are already in place. While some LED lights can be used with line-voltage incandescent dimmers, but the dimmer and LED driver electronics are not always compatible. It is thus not possible to guarantee that a given LED fixture will work with all dimmers. There is thus a need to avoid retrofitting existing dimmer systems and to at the same time guarantee that an LED light will be functional with any existing dimmer.
Although LEDs are understood as a much more efficient means of lighting, there is still a need for further efficiencies. One source of inefficiencies in the systems is due to the power conversion from alternating current to direct current that is generally associated with such systems. In these systems there is some amount of phantom power loss, due to the DC converter trickling a small amount of power, even when the system is off.
Relevant prior art attempting to address these and other drawbacks include the following utility patents, design patents and published utility patent applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,815,696, issued on Dec. 10, 1957 to Philip Brownscombe, discloses an invention relating to a means for stabilizing the brightness of a projected image on a movable screen. More particularly, the invention relates to a condensing lens system for providing and adjustable illumination angle of a light beam. Using a system of lenses, brightness of the light may be adjusted.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,339,789, issued on Jul. 13, 1982 to Husby et al., discloses a method for quickly, efficiently, and accurately aiming a flood light at a preselected location. The method discloses directing or redirected the collimated radiative output of a low power laser source as a preselected location. The laser output may be aimed at a mirror on the flood light face and reflected directly back to the preselected location or the laser may be temporarily mounted to the flood light and the laser output directed parallel to the flood light beam axis at the preselected location.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,805, issued on Feb. 25, 1992 to Stawarz discloses a bow sight apparatus comprising at least one lighted reticle aiming spot which is projected onto a partially reflecting mirror through which the target is viewed so as to superimpose the aiming spot on the target image.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,158,348, issued on Nov. 16, 1990 to Sakamoto and Sasaki, discloses a flood lighting system comprising a flood light having a built-in lamp for lighting a building, a polarizer adapted to linearly polarize radiation from the lamp, and an analyzer disposed in such a manner that its direction of oscillation of light is at right angles with that of the polarizer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,767 issued on Feb. 25, 1997 to Peter Hochstein discloses thermal management system for LED arrays involving a heat sink and LEDs adhesively secured to circuit traces.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,714 issued on Mar. 12, 2002 to Michael Rhodes, discloses an embedded LED lighting system for marking flooring, walkways, and roadways.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,361,190 issued on Mar. 26, 2002 to Kevin McDermoott discloses a large surface LED lighting device having an interior reflected disposed and configured to reflect the light emitted by the LED element to increase the divergence of the light and form an interior reflected light. The interior reflector is formed to increase the transfer of heat away from the LED element. The interior reflector is usually disposed in dose proximity to the LED element to maximize the percentage of emitted light it redirects.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,428,189 issued on Aug. 6, 2002 to Peter Hochstein discloses an LED thermal management system wherein an assembly has a heat sink integral with each LED and disposed in thermal contact with a heat dissipater for conveying heat from the LEDs.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,480,389 issued on Nov. 12, 2002 to Shie et al. discloses a heat dissipation structure for a solid-state light emitting device package comprising an LED that includes a heat dissipation structure characterized by having a heat dissipating fluidic coolant filled in a hermetically sealed housing where at least one LED chip mounted on a metallic substrate is dwelled inside. The heat dissipation structure is configured with a metallic wall erected from the metallic substrate, wherein the erected wall surrounds in proximity with the at least one LED chip so that the joule heat generated therefrom may be quickly dissipated, through the heat dissipating fluidic coolant, to the erected wall, and then diffused along the wall down to the metallic substrate which adjoins with a larger external heat sink for draining the heat, thus preventing the at least one LED from overheating.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,517,218 issued on Feb. 11, 2003 to Peter Hochstein discloses an LED integrated heat sink wherein the LED conducts electricity through the heat sink, allowing the diode to be in electrical conductivity with the heat sink.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,561,680 issued on May 13, 2003 to Kelvin Shih discloses a Light emitting diode with thermally conductive structure. Here the LED is designed to be used in conjunction with a heat sink includes an anode portion and a cathode portion formed from a thermally conductive material. The anode and cathode portions have a relatively large surface area to allow efficient heat dissipation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,567,009 issued on May 20, 2003 to Ohishi et al. discloses a Light Control Type LED lighting equipment, wherein the LED lighting equipment which can be simply perform lighting control of the light by any body and can obtain wide variety of tones in wide range by easy operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,573,536 issued on Jun. 3, 2003 to Joel M. Dry, discloses a light emitting diode light source that utilizes light emitting diodes that emit white light is disclosed. The diodes are mounted on an elongate member having at least two surfaces upon which the light emitting diodes are mounted. The elongate member is thermally conductive and is utilized to cool the light emitting diodes. In the illustrative embodiment, the elongate member is a tubular member through which a heat transfer medium flows.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,582,100 issued on Jun. 24, 2003 to Peter Hochstein, discloses an LED mounting system comprising an electrically and thermally conductive heat dissipater sandwiched under an electrically insulating layer with circuit traces disposed over the insulating layer to prevent electrical conduction between the traces and the heat dissipater.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,590,773 issued on Jul. 8, 2003 to Lin discloses a heat dissipation device for enhanced power light emitting diodes, wherein the heat dissipation device is mounted to a light emitting diode device for removing heat from the light emitting diode which includes a substrate having a top side on which a light-emitting unit is formed and an opposite bottom side from which terminals extend. The heat dissipation device includes a plate made of heat conductive material and forming a receptacle for receiving and at least partially enclosing and physically engaging the substrate of the light emitting diode device for enhancing heat removal from the light emitting diode device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,712,486 issued on Mar. 30, 2004 to Popovich et al., discloses a mounting arrangement for light emitting diodes comprising a heat conductive body portion adapted to conduct heat generated by the LEDs to an adjacent heat sink. As a result, the LEDs are be to be operated with a higher current than normally allowed. Thus, brightness and performance of the LEDs is increased without decreasing the life expectancy of the LEDs. The LED modules can be used in a variety of illumination applications employing one or more modules.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,827,468 issued on Dec. 7, 2004 to Robert Galli, discloses an LED lighting assembly comprising two housing components, namely an inner mounting die and an outer enclosure. The inner and outer components cooperate to retain the LED package, provide electrical and control connections, and provide integral heat sink capacity for the system.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,871,981 issued to Alexanderson et al. on Mar. 29, 2005, discloses an LED lighting device and system comprising a channel case made from a thermally conductive material, including aluminum. A heat transfer device is attached to the bottom of a circuit board and is further attached to the bottom of the channel case. A plurality of light-emitting diodes and resistors are mounted on the circuit board in series and generate light through a lens that is attached to the two opposed side edges of the channel case.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,999,318 issued to Theodore Newby on Feb. 14, 2006 discloses a heatsinking electronic device, wherein the heatsink has a substantially planar upper surface, a wiring board (PWB) with a through-hole for receiving the device such that a principal face thereof is in thermal contact with the heatsink, its electrical leads are captured between at least a portion of the wiring board and the heatsink, and a top of the device protrudes through the PWB.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,044,620 issued to Paul Van Duyn on May 16, 2006, discloses a LED assembly with a reverse circuit board. The lamp assembly comprises a printed circuit board (PCB) having a face surface, a rear surface opposite the face surface, electrical traces on the rear surface, and an opening extending from the face surface to the rear surface, and a LED emitter having a dome portion, a body, and a plurality of electrical terminals connected to the body, wherein the body of the LED emitter is adjacent the rear surface, the dome portion of the LED emitter extends through the opening in the PCB to the face surface, and the electrical terminals are connected to the electrical traces on the rear surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,134,768, issued on Nov. 14, 2006 to Nobuyuki Suzuki, discloses a lighting system comprising a plurality of LED light sources that may be introduced into a light guide and inwardly reflected (that is, totally reflected) at a first reflective surface formed on the light guide so as to form a substantially collimated light.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,235,878, issued on Jun. 26, 2007 to Owen et al. discloses a direct cooling system for a LED array wherein coolant directly cools the LED array. Preferably, the coolant may be selected, among other bases, based on its index of refraction relative to the index associated with the semiconductor device.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,420,811, issued on Sep. 2, 2008 to Tsung-Wen Chan discloses a heat sink structure for light-emitting diode based streetlamp that comprises an upper cover, on which heat sink fins are integrally formed, and a lower cover. The heat energy generated by the LEDs mounted within the upper cover and the lower cover can be removed through the heat sink fins, achieving the effect of rapid removal of the heat energy.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,434,964, issued on Oct. 14, 2008 to Zheng et al. discloses a LED lamp adapted for lighting and that comprises a heat sink, a bowl-shaped cover attached to a bottom portion of the heat sink, a lamp seat secured below the cover, a plurality of LEDs mounted on an outside surface of the heat sink, and a plurality of heat pipes contacting with interior face of the heat sink. The heat sink has a plurality of fins extending from sidewalls thereof. The cover has a plurality of apertures defined on lateral wall thereof. The heat generated by the LEDs can be transferred to the heat sink evenly via the heat pipes, and is then dispersed to ambient air efficiently and rapidly.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,513,653, issued on Apr. 7, 2009 to Jun Liu et al. discloses a LED lamp comprising a lamp base, a heat sink mounted on the lamp base and a plurality of LED modules thermally contacting with the heat sink. The lamp base defines a plurality of vents therein. The heat sink includes a central cylinder and a plurality of fins spaced from and surrounding the cylinder. The cylinder defines a through hole therein, which communicates with the vents of the lamp base and cooperates with the vents to form an air passage communicating with ambient air. An included angle is defined between each of the fins and a central axis of the cylinder. The LED modules are mounted on outmost ones of the fins of the heat sink, respectively.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,638,953, issued on Dec. 29, 2009 to Denville discloses a method for applying realtime effects to at least one lighting channel for lighting a fixture.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,654,699, issued on Feb. 2, 2010 to Su-Chi Chang et al., discloses a LED lamp having a heat dissipation structure having a cylindrical center. The cylinder has a through hole therein, which communicates with the inner space and vents of the lamp base and cooperates therewith to form an air passage. The LED modules are attached to a periphery of the heat sink. The blower generates an airflow circulating through the air passage to thereby dissipate heat generated by the LED modules.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,744,247, issued on Jun. 29, 2010 to Wen-Xiang Zhang et al. discloses a LED lamp having double-side heat sink.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,753,544, issued on Jul. 13, 2010 to Hirofumi Ohta et al., discloses a light source and light control plate positioned in front thereof, such that the surface light source emits, in a predetermined direction, parallel light having a substantially uniform luminance distribution.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,753,556, issued on Jul. 13, 2010 to Wen-Xiang Zhang discloses a compact LED lamp having a heat dissipation structure comprising a heat sink cover comprising a plate and a plurality of fins formed on a top surface thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,784,955, issued Aug. 31, 2010 to Choi et al., discloses a LED headlamp aiming apparatus, which is disclosed to aim a mounting module provided with LEDs and installed in a headlamp housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,784,972, issued on Aug. 31, 2010 to Heffington et al. discloses a thermal management system for a LED array
U.S. Pat. No. 7,789,528, issued on Sep. 7, 2010 to Ci-Jin Mo and Li He, discloses an outdoor LED lamp having a protective cover mounted on the LED lamp and covering a heat sink of the LED lamp therein. The LED lamp includes a bracket, the heat sink mounted on a top side of the bracket, and a plurality of LED modules mounted on a bottom surface of the heat sink. The cover is used for preventing snow, leaves or dust from accumulating on the heat sink.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,800,909, issued on Sep. 21, 2010 to Tsung-Ting Sun discloses a lamp base having a heat sink. The heat sink comprises a heat-dissipating base formed with a trough for accommodating the bulb therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,819,556, issued on Oct. 26, 2010 to Heffington et al. discloses a thermal management system for LED array comprising a chamber having a liquid disposed therein, a LED array having a first surface which is in contact with said liquid, and at last one actuator adapted to dislodge vapor bubbles from said first surface through the emission of pressure vibrations.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,868,305 to Atul Gupta, issued Jan. 11, 2011, discloses a technique for ion beam angle spread control. In one embodiment, the technique is disclosed as a method for ion beam angle spread control comprising one or more ion beams aimed as a substrate surface at two or more different incident angles.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,874,701, issued on Jan. 25, 2011 to Rudy Pohlet et al. comprises a lighting apparatus having a panel frame and a plurality of LEDs or other light elements secured thereto. Lenses and/or filters are adjusted in distance from the light elements, by positioning the and repositioning the lenses or filters into different slot positions of the frame, thereby altering the characteristics of the emitted light.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,884,896, issued on Feb. 8, 2011 to Sang-Jun Park discloses a light-guide plate comprising an incident surface, an emissive surface, and a reflective surface. The incident surface further comprises a plurality of light-control patters formed in sectioned regions of the incident surface.
US Patent Publication No. 2005/0084229 A1, published on published on Oct. 18, 2004 to Victor Babbitt et al. discloses a system wherein a light source (preferably LEDs) injects light into a translucent light guide. The core to the light guide comprises a homogenous mixture of fluid and a light dispersing agent to effect scattering. In this system, scattered light passes through the light guide and may be used for illumination.
US Patent Publication No. 2005/0242734 A1, published on Nov. 3, 2005 to Fredric Maxik to Victor Babbitt et al. discloses an improved light bulb exhibiting a wide angle dispersed light which uses, as a source of light dispersion, crystalline particular material incorporate into the molded or formed material of the light bulb.
US Patent Publication No. 2006/0012984 A1, published on Jan. 19, 2006 to Coushaine et al. discloses a LED lamp assembly formed from a support plate comprising a first and second side, and wherein a plurality of LED light sources are arranged and mounted on the first side of the support plate, and an axially extending, light transmissive, light guide.
US Patent Publication No. 2006/0227546 A1, published on Oct. 12, 2006 to Yeo et al., discloses an enhanced light fixture containing a volumetric, anisotropic diffuser to control the spatial luminance uniformity and angular speed of light from the light fixture. The anisotropic diffuser contains one or more regions of asymmetrically shaped light scattering particles. The spread of illumination of light from a light emitting source can be efficiently controlled by using a thin, low cost, volumetric, asymmetric diffuser to direct the light in the desired direction. This allows the reduction in number of light sources, a reduction in power requirements, or a more tailored illumination.
US Patent Publication No. 2006/0180821 A1, published on Aug. 17, 2006 to Xue-Jan Fan discloses a Light-emitting diode thermal management system comprising a channel beneath a trace layer and above a heat sink, the channel designed to transfer to the heat sink any heat applied to the trace layer by the LED.
US Patent Publication No. 2007/0258247 A1, published on Nov. 8, 2007 to Park et al. discloses a light-emitting module that allows a display panel to be made thinner. The light emitting module comprises a point-light source and an optical cap. The point-light source is disposed on a substrate. The optical cap surrounds a side portion and an upper portion of the point-light source and has a first embossing pattern formed thereon. Light is emitted from the point-light source and passes through the optical cap to be diffused, for example by the first embossing pattern. Thus, extra components such as a diffusing plate, a diffusing sheet, etc., may be omitted from the display device, and the display device may be slimmer.
US Patent Publication No. 2008/0055900 A1 published on Mar. 6, 2008 discloses a LED light pod with modular optics and heat dissipation structure. A reflective optic plate, which may be made in various modular sizes and designs, having a plurality of recesses is seated on a LED board having a plurality of LEDs, such that the plurality of LEDs fit within the plurality optical recesses. The optical recesses serve to collimate light in a desirable manner based on predetermined dimensional ratios of the optical recesses. A heat dissipation system involves a heat sink housing acting in combination with a heat extraction plate having a plurality thermally conductive posts extending perpendicularly from a top and bottom surface, and a heat dissipation plate to create a thermally conductive path for moving heat away from the LED board when the light pod is in use.
US Patent Publication No. 2008/0149305 A1 published on Jun. 26, 2008 to Te-Chung Chen discloses a Heat Sink Structure for High Power LED Lamp comprising a heat conducting lamp holder, a heat conductor and a heat sink. The heat conducting lamp holder is made of highly heat-conductive material to provide a smooth surface for firmly holding a LED lamp. The heat conductor is made of highly heat-conductive material for linking the heat conducting lamp holder and the heat sink. The heat sink includes a plurality of heat sink fins made of highly heat-conductive material. The plurality of heat sink fins are arranged radially to form a porous center structure with no occluding junction, thereby implementing a heat sink structure which can provide omnidirectional heat dissipating capability and good convection capability to let hot air to rise naturally for high power LED lamps.
US Patent Publication No. 2008/0185969 A1, published on Aug. 7, 2008 to Klaas Vegter et al. discloses a lighting system comprising a controller, lighting units, and a sensing device. Each lighting unit comprises a lighting source and a modulated light source.
US Patent Publication No. 2010/0059592 A1, published on Mar. 11, 2010 to Stefano Barsotti discloses an aiming device for an image acquisition apparatus, the aiming device comprising a light emitting means and a light guide arrange for receiving luminous radiation generated by the light emitting means and for providing a reference image means at an aiming zone.
US Patent Publication No. 2010/0128473 A1, published on May 27, 2010 to Roland Parra discloses a quiet LED fixture that adjusts between a neutral, flood, and spot array configuration.
US Patent Publication No. 2010/0027085 A1, published on Feb. 4, 2010 to Anthony Gatalano discloses a lighting device having an adjustable beam, the beam being adjustable through the use of a hologram diffuser comprising areas of differing diffusing properties. The adjustable beam involves the use of a hologram diffuser with areas that have different diffusing properties. The different diffusing areas are selectively positionable in a light beam created by the lighting device to provide for an adjustable beam by providing different diffusions of the light.
US Patent Publication No. 2010/0213835 A1, published on Aug. 26, 2010 to Anthony Mo et al. discloses a lighting system comprising at least one point source of light which emits a beam, and at least one reflective means for diffusing the light and/or converting the light to a different color range.
U.S. Design Pat. No. D626519, issued on Nov. 2, 2010 to Pei-Chih Yao, is a design patent that discloses a heat dissipation module for a streetlamp.
Each of these prior art systems suffers from one or more of the following limitations, problems, or shortfalls: requiring the use of LED drivers which are bulky, expensive, create waste heat, lower efficiency, and increase complexity; lacking active cooling; lacking passive cooling; lacking efficient cooling systems; being susceptible to solar heating; lacking cooling on both sides of the LEDs; being heavy; being bulky; being expensive; being of limited scale and brightness; having low watt equivalence; suffering from excessive flicker; providing no control of the shape of the area lit; not being dimmable; requiring a warm-up time; and causing light pollution.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent to the prior art LED lighting systems it is a first objective of the invention to provide an LED lighting system having a wiring scheme that does not require LED drivers, but instead employs a simple step down transformer or mechanism, and that minimizes flicker.
It is a second object of the invention to provide an LED lighting system with passive cooling to both the front and back of the individual LEDs.
It is a third object of the invention to provide a multi-phasing board technology that minimizes flicker in an LED electrically connected thereto.
It is an fourth object of the invention to provide an LED lighting system that may be configured for custom shaped lit areas and for custom designed illumination patterns utilizing a front plate having beveled areas ranging of range from greater than zero to 120 degrees.
It is a fifth object of the invention to provide an LED lighting system that remains continuously operational while maintaining a temperature of about 15 degrees above an ambient temperature around the system.
It is a sixth object of the invention to provide an LED lighting system having an integrated curvature building into the light guide such that the spread of available customized configurations for directing light output is maximized.
It is a seventh object of the invention to provide an LED lighting system that with increased energy efficient beyond conventional LED lighting systems.
It is an eighth object of the invention to provide an LED lighting system exhibiting highly directed light output so as to minimize light pollution.
It is a ninth object of the invention to provide an active cooling system for an LED lighting system.
It is a tenth object of the invention to provide a heat reduction component for an LED lighting system that also functions as a customizable lens for the LED lighting system
It is an eleventh object of the invention to provide an LED lighting system that compatible with conventional dimmer switches.
It is a twelfth object of the invention to provide an LED lighting system which is easily scalable from low wattage equivalent configurations to high wattage equivalent configurations, such as 36 kW.
It is thirteenth object of the invention to provide an LED lighting system that minimizes the effecting of solar heating and to be combinable with solar technology for further customization.
It is a fourteenth object of the invention to have interchangeable angles of diode light throw to maximize spread customization.
It is a fifteenth object of the invention to provide an LED lighting system with an ability to customize the shape and illumination patterns emitted therefrom.
It is a sixteenth object of the invention to minimize physical contact between an LED lighting system and an enclosure for said system.
It is a seventeenth object of the invention to provide an LED lighting system that does not require a warm-up period.
Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will become obvious to the reader and it is intended that these objects and advantages be within the scope of the present invention.